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Your Parents Can't Make You Go to Heaven!

by Ted J. Clarke

One of the greatest miseries of being
a child is being made to do things that a child does not want to do.
Eating vegetables, brushing teeth, taking a bath, cleaning one's room,
going to Aunt June's, going to school, attending worship and Bible
study -- these all rate high on the list of things that many children
and teens do not like to do at some time or another.

As children get a little older, they often can see the wisdom of brushing
their teeth or taking a bath, and many like going to school, even
if it is not because they see the value of a good education. But mom and
dad still make them attend church, even after they have complained
sufficiently to be exempted from visiting Aunt June. Why?

Some young people feel as though
they
have finally broken the stranglehold parents exercise over children,
when they have removed themselves from parental power to make them "go
to church." A
number of older people have told me that the reason they do not attend
church in their adult years is because their parents made them go when
they were children. Most of us know that really is not the reason.
The real reason is usually twofold. One, the young person was not made
to see the need for attending worship or Bible study as he was
growing up, or the child simply did not learn the lessons taught. Two,
the young person has grown and has made a decision that he does
not need God in his life. His interests are simply not served
by religion. In the growing process, the wisdom of eating properlv
bathing, and brushing teeth made sense,
but somehow God was never made as real or as sensitive as those other
things? Why?

Well, growing up is more than just getting older and bigger. There
is a maturing of the mind (a true sense of seeking for answers to
the questions of "Where did I come from? Why am I here? What happens to me when I die?").
When we really grow up, there is a soberness about life's purpose and death's
destiny with those who are truly mature. Young people, it is not easy toforce
yourselves to think about these things, but it is important that you do so!

As you develop and grow older, try
to grow in wisdom, too. When you become a young adult, your parents
cannot make you do many things they used to do. You may be happy about
that, but your parents did what they thought was best for you (Hebrews
12:9-11). There is one final thing that your parents cannot make you
do! They cannot make you go to heaven. As much as they would like to
see you there, they cannot make you go! That is a decision you get
to make. You do not have to go, if you do not want to go! Romans 14:12
and 2 Corinthians 5:10 say that "each one of us will give an account
of himself." Growing
up is great! The adult life is a continuing education. There
are tremendous and eternal consequences attached to the decisions you
make as young adults! Use your freedom to make the right choices for
yourselves.

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